Harry Arthur Smith (born 10 October 1932, died 29 Dec 2016) was an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a full back in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. He was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

Career

Smith joined

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

as an amateur, but left to join

in 1953 without breaking into the Baggies' first team. He made his Torquay debut in a 3–1 win away to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on 5 December 1953, with the regular left-back Jimmy Drinkwater out of the side. He initially lost his place when Drinkwater returned, but after two games out of the side, regained his place, Drinkwater switching to right-back as the on-loan Harry Parfitt missed out. He began the following season as the regular left-back in the Torquay side, playing in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

4th round tie at home to Huddersfield Town in front of a record crowd of 21,908, which Huddersfield won 1–0. He lost his place late in the season, with John Anderton taking his place and played just 14 times in the 1955–56 season. He started the 1956–57 season out of the first team with Anderton and then regular centre-half John James playing at left-back. However, Smith soon regained his place and remained a regular for the remainder of the season as Torquay lost out on promotion to

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

on goal average from

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He played 188 league games for Torquay, scoring just once, before leaving in July 1961 to join

. He played just once for the Ashton Gate side before leaving league football to settle down in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, where he became an avid pigeon racer. He died in 2016, with the club paying tribute to him on social media. https://twitter.com/tufc1899/status/814857455775649792

References

1932 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Wolverhampton English footballers Torquay United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players English Football League players Association football fullbacks {{England-footy-defender-1930s-stub